


took the breath from my open mouth

by blossomserpent



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Project Partner AU, a tiny mention of abusive family members, but also pretty canon, movie theatre date aka soon to be canon!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 20:37:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13621242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blossomserpent/pseuds/blossomserpent
Summary: "You know, movie choice aside, I had a really good time." Toni tells Cheryl when she's back at her doorstep."Me too, Toni.""Toni?" She raises her eyebrows."That is your name, isn't it?"And Toni can tell Cheryl's a little embarrassed at her own slip up."Yeah, it is, but that's Miss Southside Scum to you."





	took the breath from my open mouth

"Cheryl Blossom and Toni Topaz"

Toni's positive she hears Veronica gasp at the teachers words. She herself decides to keep a neutral face, aside from  a quick eye roll, as Cheryl, of course, tries to talk her way out of this.

And so the teacher holds a little speech about higher scoring students helping the new students get up to speed with the rest of the class.

Not demeaning at all, Toni thinks sarcastically, but Cheryl swallows it as she collects her stuff and sits down in the empty seat next to her.

"Don't think you'll get away with being a lazy little snake, Cha Cha."

"What makes you think that's what my intentions are? You don't know me." Toni bites back.

"Oh honey, I don't need to. I know your kind."

  
—

  
Toni has no idea where to look when she enters the Blossom house.

"Marvel while you can."

Its the first thing Cheryl says to her that sounds anywhere close genuine and it almost makes Toni show interest and ask, but she comes to her senses just in time.

"Not marveling, just observing. Anyway let's start. I basically finished my part, you can read it and change whatever you want."

"You basically finished?! The project was assigned 2 days ago."

"And? Impressed?"

"Of course not," Cheryl scoffs, "Just stunned at the fact that you seem to have nothing else going for you that's distracting you."

"Okay, princess, just read it and tell me what you think so I can leave this place."

"Fine."

And Toni swears she sees Cheryl look away in something like embarrassment.

  
—

  
When Toni wakes up she's on an unfamiliar but extremely comfortable couch and there's a cup of tea and a plate of tiny cut up fruits and vegetables on the salon table in front of her.

"You fell asleep while I finished and I got bored." She hears Cheryl say when she sits up.

"You could've just woken me up."

"Whatever, Topaz."

And something warm blooms somewhere inside Toni.

  
—

  
It's been three days since they handed in their history paper so, to be fair, Toni has no idea what the hell she's doing on Cheryl Blossom's doorstep. Or why she's smiling, and just a little nervous.

The girl had invited her over for a movie night to celebrate their A+ on the paper, which okay, they just handed it in so it hasn't been graded yet but Toni kind of likes that about Cheryl, the blind confidence the girl appears to posses.

More than that though, Cheryl intrigues her. Intrigue is the right word to describe it. Anything Cheryl does provokes her curiosity and she wants to know what's really going on underneath this whole act she puts up. Every word, action, look.

Toni's always gravitated toward things and people that aren't what, or who, you think they are, whether good or bad. Maybe that's why she's a serpent. That and the fact that she has no real family and this is the closest thing to it she's stumbled across in her life. Plus she knows she can't complain and so she doesn't. But still, it's a gang, and Toni's no criminal, at least she doesn't think so.

To Cheryl Blossom however she might as well be a member of the mafia. But she can't blame the girl. During their history project she learned a few things about Cheryl and her reasons for hating the serpents that made her start to simply ignore the girl's snarky comments about them instead of getting defensive.

And maybe that's part of the reason she received this random invite, and accepted it right away. The last part still causes her to feel a tinge of embarrassment when she thinks about it. She should've at least said she had to think about it, or check her schedule. Instead she just said, "Sure, but no chick flicks." To which Cheryl chuckled and responded, half snide, half cheek, "You never have any plans, do you, Topaz?"

And Toni just rolled her eyes with a hint of a smirk on her lips, closed both their lockers and made her way towards her next class, knowing Cheryl would follow.

  
—

  
When Cheryl opens the door Toni feels a little air escape her lungs at the sight of her.

  
—

  
"You brought pj's, cute."

Cheryl's words don't even sound judgmental but Toni still feels the need to defend herself.

"They're not _pj's_ , they're sweats. You think I have movie nights in my leather pants?"

Cheryl shrugs, "I wouldn't have minded that."

Before Toni can think of a response to that, the redhead continues,

"Anyway you can keep your pants on, Chacha, because I've decided we're seeing a movie at the theatre."

"The theatre." Toni echoes as she gets up from the leg of the lazy chair in Cheryl's living room. "That would make this look a lot like a-"

"A celebration between two history project partners that sometimes get along? Yes, that would be correct."

"Took the words right out my mouth, Blossom."

  
—

  
Toni buys the drinks, so Cheryl insists on buying the popcorn (because this is a celebratory meeting between project partners). One sweet, one salty.

Toni draws a flirty, slightly self deprecating analogy about their respective flavors that Cheryl brushes off with an endearing eye roll, as far as that's possible for an eye roll, and for a second it doesn't feel like they're that different at all.

  
—

  
It turns out Cheryl Blossom is fond of the horror genre, which she could've warned Toni about because the girl's close to pissing her pants. Her hands are glued to the arm rests and she's had her eyes closed for about 80% of the movie so far.

When Cheryl finally notices she laughs and leans over to whisper in Toni's ear, "You're scared of scary movies?"

If they weren't in a busy movie theatre right now, maybe Toni would've slipped and told Cheryl that she's seen every real scary thing imaginable in her life, from disease and guns, to white police officers tapping on her dad's car window, to drug addicted family members selling her favorite stuffed animals, and her very first cellphone, and that's the reason she doesn't like movies that are scary. Because it's never made sense to her why people would voluntarily scare themselves even more. Isn't life enough?

But instead she responds, through gritted teeth, "There's a reason they're called scary movies, Cheryl."

"No. you're completely right I just. I didn't expect it, is all." She pauses right at the jump scare, causing Toni to flinch, "We can leave if you want."

And Toni really wants to, but Cheryl sounds genuinely disappointed as she says it so she rejects the offer, "No it's fine, I can take it. I need to get over it anyways."

"Okay, if you're sure." Cheryl turns her attention back to the screen, except now with one of her arms resting on the arm chair she was previously squeezing for emotional support.

Toni smiles a little at the sight.

  
—

  
By the end of the movie Toni's definitely not scared anymore, or even focused on the movie, because she's as close to Cheryl as physically possible in movie theatre seats and hiding her face in the girl's hair at every tiny scare. And all she hears are Cheryl's chuckles every time she squeals.

When the credits roll Toni quickly repositions herself and gets up from her seat as the lights turn on, "Thank fuck that's over."

"Sorry, I should've checked if you were okay with the movie choice," And Cheryl genuinely looks like she feels bad.

"It's okay, I should've asked what movie you wanted to see." She pauses as they start walking towards the exit, "Besides. It wasn't all bad." She gives Cheryl her best, over the shoulder, boyish smirk and she doesn't have to look at the redhead's reaction to know it has its effect.

"Agreed. I personally felt like the movie got better as it progressed."

"True. The storyline really captured me. How they just- did that."

"You have no idea how it ended, do you?"

"No fucking clue."

And Cheryl laughs, actually, unapologetically laughs at that and Toni thinks she's never heard anything quite like it as she opens the car door for the other girl with her heartbeat in her throat.

  
—

  
"You know, movie choice aside, I had a really good time." Toni tells Cheryl when she's back at her doorstep.

"Me too, Toni."

"Toni?" She raises her eyebrows.

"That is your name, isn't it?"

And Toni can tell Cheryl's a little embarrassed at her own slip up.

"Yeah, it is, but that's Miss Southside Scum to you."

Cheryl only snorts once before her expression turns serious,

"Yeah about that. I'm sorry. I was wrong and that's not easy for me to say so don't expect to hear it again." She rushes the last part.

"No worries, princess. You're really not who I thought you were either."

Cheryl looks at the floor with a subtle smile on her face, "I think it's safe to say we both had our incorrect preconceptions."

"I like it when you talk fancy to me."

Cheryl looks up at her and laughs again.

And Toni decides that making that happen more is a new priority in her life.

"Shut up, Topaz."

Toni's heartbeat speeds up at the words on the tip of her own tongue.

She decides to say them anyway.

"Make me, Blossom."

  
—

  
It's been three weeks since their movie theatre date and the relentless teasing Toni faces from Sweetpea, Fangs and Kevin for the way she lets Cheryl Blossom sit on her lap and boss her around during lunch is totally worth it.

Because Cheryl laughs more than she snarks now and she lets Toni kiss it better whenever she's sad and when they watch movies together Toni gets to nuzzle her nose in Cheryl's neck and she finds warmth and safety there the same way Cheryl seems to find it whenever Toni kisses her cheek and softly runs her fingers up and down her arm after someone made a nasty comment about her family or whenever Toni takes the red lipstick from her shaking hands and applies it for her on the bad days.

  
—

  
Another three weeks and the bad days are few and far between. They make love almost every day and they make out whenever they're alone somewhere, because no matter how much Toni loves Cheryl she still hates PDA.

They're lying in bed together when Toni notices Cheryl soundlessly crying. She immediately panics and starts comforting her.

Cheryl chuckles faintly, "It's okay, I'm just really, really happy. Like happier than I ever thought a person could be." She swallows, "Happier than I deserved to be, at least ."

She mumbles the last bit and it makes Toni frown and shake her head.

"No. No one deserves happiness more than you do. You know I promised myself after our movie date-"

"Not a date."

Toni rolls her eyes, "I promised myself after that day that I'd never stop trying to make you laugh."

Cheryl chuckles and it makes her teary eyes squint. "That's ridiculously sweet of you." And she looks at Toni with those big brown eyes, Toni's always amazed at how infinitely deep they look, as she smiles, and it's so impossibly soft Toni aches with love for her.

She wants to reply with something clever but the worlds fail to form coherent sentences.

Instead she starts counting the freckles on the girl's bare face, mentally kissing all of them.

"No clever comeback?" Cheryl giggles like she knows what she's doing. And let's be real, this is Cheryl Blossom, she probably does.

Toni feels herself blushing as she covers her face with her hands to hide. Her words come out muffled,

"Shut up."

Cheryl gently removes the hands from her face and entwines their fingers.

"You know the drill, Topaz."

 

—

 

Their lips meet and Toni reckons that nothing has ever felt this much like home.

**Author's Note:**

> title from the song anchor by novo


End file.
